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SILENCE.

WHEN the cup of hope brims over
And the soul hath drunk its fill,

When the loved-one meets the lover
And their hearts in sunshine hover
With one impulse and one will, —
Then the useless tongue is still.

When the heart is bare of gladness, And the helpless sense of ill

Goads the apathy of sadness

Onward, through a whirl of madness,

To a darkness drear and chill,

Then the palsied tongue is still.

When the soul for power sigheth,
Struggling for Art's fuller skill,
And the prophet heart o'erflieth
All the agony that trieth,

All the teardrops it must spill,

Then the tranced tongue is still.

When two hearts that love are parted,
And truth lingers but to kill,
When they strive to be hardhearted,

And the props of life are started

With a terror and a thrill,

Then the choking tongue is still.

When our souls youth's dream-chains shiver, And we leap the World's scant rill,

Which had seemed a mighty river

Roaring on and on forever

"Tween us and Self-trust's steep hill, —

Then the trembling tongue is still.

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1842.

O, sweet Silence! they belied thee

Who have called thee vain and weak;

Speech is emptiness beside thee,

Joy and woe have glorified thee,

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All the deepest thoughts and feelings
Which the roots of life enfold,
Passion's sudden shocks and reelings,

Love's first tremulous revealings,

Never can be fully told,

Save by thee, revered of old!

A CHIPPEWA LEGEND.*

ἀλγεινὰ μέν μοι καὶ λέγειν ἐστὶν τάδε

ἄλγος δὲ σιγᾷν.

Eschylus, Prom. Vinct. 197.

THE old Chief, feeling now well-nigh his end,

Called his two eldest children to his side,

And gave them, in few words, his parting charge:

"My son and daughter, me ye see no more;

The happy hunting-grounds await me, green

With change of spring and summer through the year: But, for remembrance, after I am gone,

Be kind to little Sheemah for my sake:

Weakling he is and young, and knows not yet

To set the trap, or draw the seasoned bow;

* For the leading incidents in this tale, I am indebted to the very valuable

Algic Researches" of Henry R. Schoolcraft, Esq.

Therefore of both your loves he hath more need, And he, who needeth love, to love hath right;

It is not like our furs and stores of corn,

Whereto we claim sole title by our toil,
But the Great Spirit plants it in our hearts,
And waters it, and gives it sun, to be

The common stock and heritage of all:
Therefore be kind to Sheemah, that yourselves
May not be left deserted in your need."

Alone, beside a lake, their wigwam stood,
Far from the other dwellings of their tribe;
And, after many moons, the loneliness
Wearied the elder brother, and he said,
"Why should I dwell here all alone, shut out
From the free, natural joys that fit my age?
Lo, I am tall and strong, well skilled to hunt,
Patient of toil and hunger, and not yet

Have seen the danger which I dared not look
Full in the face; what hinders me to be
A mighty Brave and Chief among my kin? "
So, taking up his arrows and his bow,

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